Ruffling and puffing attachment for sewing-machines



, (No Model.)-

0. H. CARTER.

Ruffling and .Puffing Attachments for Sewing Machines.

No. 234,242. Patented Nov. 9,1880.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES H. CARTER, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

RUFFLING AND PUFFING ATTACHMENT FOR SEWING-MACHINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 234,242, dated November 9, 1880.

Application filed July 1, 1880.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES H. CARTER, of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented an Improvement in Ruffling and Puffing Attachments for Sewing-Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This device is for puffing or ruftling woven fabrics in the act of sewing the same, so that IO the sewing secures the small plaits together and produces the ruffled or puffed appearance.

Ruffling attachments have been made in which there is a spring presser-foot and a reciprocating folder moving beneath the same, and a plate to cover the ordinary sewing-machine feed.

My invention is made for allowing the ruffling or puffing to be made in one or more lines at any part of the fabric. I make use of a separate plate to cover the ordinary sewing-machine feed. This plate receives its support from the bed. The parts that perform the ruf- ,flin g are entirely above the fabric, and receive their support from the head of the sewing-machine, so that the fabric that is being ruffled or puffed may be spread out upon the sewingmachine bed.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side view of the ruffler adapted to being secured to a sewing-machine. Fig. 2 is a vertical section at the line a: m, Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a plan of the spring feed-plate; and Fig. 4 is a top view of the separating-plate, the feed being shown beneath the same in position.

The frame a is preferably in the form of the letter L, one end being connected, by a slot and screw at b, with the sewing-machine head, in which the needle-bar slides. The head is shown at b and the needle-bar at b by dotted lines in Fig. 1. Said frame a may be fastened upon the presser-bar in cases where said presser-bar is of a size to carry the parts of my ruffler.

The hanger c is connected to the framea by the screw d, and it may be adjusted laterally, the screw passing through a horizontal slotin the upper end of the hanger, the object being to move the hanger and the spring presserfoot f, that is carried by it, into a position to suit the needle 6. (Shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1.)

There is a hole, 2', in the spring presser-foot (No model.)

f for the needle to pass through. The connection between the hanger c and presser-footfis by the screw 3, passingthrough a slotted flange at the lower end of the hanger, so that the spring presser-t'oot can be adjusted longitudinally of the foot and its spring. The ordinary presser-footof the sewing-machine will usually rest upon the spring presser-foot f.

The separator is composed of a thin springplate, g, of metal, that is screwed upon the bed of the sewing-machine, instead of being attached to and forming part of the ruffler proper; and the object of this independent attachment of the separator is to admit of the passing of the work under the ruffler, so as to get any number of rows of stitching and puffing, the capacity of the ruffler being thereby greatly increased. The plate 9 also has the ordinary function of preventing the machine-feed from coming into contact with the fabric until after the needle has secured the work.

The spring feed-plate h is of thin metal, adapted to pass in between the spring presserfoot and the fabric. Its end is bifurcated to pass at each side of the needle, as seen in the plan, Fig. 3, and the ends are made with teeth that point slightly downward, so that the reciprocation of this toothed plate feeds or pushes the material along and corrugates or ruffles such material into plaits of greater or less size, according to the extent of motion given to the said feed-plate.

The hinge m unites the feed-plate h to the swinging arm n, that is pivoted at 4 to the frame a.

In some rufflers before made the spring-feed has been fastened rigidly upon the arm that moves this feed. I find that this spring is liable to break off, and that by connecting this spring toahin ge-piece this dilficulty is avoided.

The cam-plate 0 is pivoted at its lower end to the connecting-bar p, the other end of which is pivoted to the arm n, and at the upper end the cam-plate o is pivoted to the slide q, that is connected to the frame a by the screw 6, that passes through the slotted slideq into the frame at. There is also an adjusting-screw, 1, that passes through the slide q and through a stud, 10, upon the frame a, so that the slide qcan be accurately moved and held in the desired position. The cam-plate 0 has in it a slot, t, within which slides the screw u, that is upon ICO the needle-bar. This screw it is shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1. If the parts were adjusted so that the cam-slot t stood vertically, the screw it would simply move up and down without giving any motion to the parts; but that is not the case. The cam-plate o is diagonal to the path in which the screw u moves, so that said screw u gives the movement to the plaiting or ruflling device by coming into contact with the cam-plate 0 at opposite sides ofthe slot. By turning the screwr and moving the slide 1 to the rightin Fig. 1 the cam-plate 0 will be placed at a greater inclination and increase the movement given to the parts by the screw or projection it upon the needlebar. The reverse movement of the slide to the left lessens the amount of movement given to the cam-plate o by the screw u, and conse' quently the movement given to the feed-plate through the connecting-rod p and swinging arm n. By this improvementl am able to vary the movement of the feed-plate with great accuracy, and thereby make the folds or plaits of the fabric larger or smaller. The fabric can also be spread out between the rufiling attachment and the bed, so as to be rnfiied or puffed l in any part of the fabric. The sewing is performed in any desired manner, and the lineor l lines of stitching unite the folds or plaits of the fabric and keep them in their proper relative positions.

In order to guide the fabric and make one line of putting parallel with another, I employ the gage v at the end of a horizontal rod that passes through a clamp upon the hanger 0, so that it may be held at any place to which it may have been moved.

I claim as my invention- 1. The combination, in aruffler attachment, of the swinging cam-plate o, the slide q, upon which the cam-plate is pivoted, a frame for supporting such slide, the arm n, the connecting-rod p from the arm n to the cam-plate, and the spring feeding-plate, substantially as set forth.

2. The frame u,hanger c. and spring presserfoot f, in combination with the feed-plate h. arm n,eonnecting-rod p,cam-plate0,and means for connecting the cam-plate to the frame, substantially as set forth.

Signed by me this 29th day of Jane, A. I). 1880.

CHAS. H. CARTER.

Witnesses (inn. '1. l'INCKNEY, UIIAS. lI. SMITH. 

